[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 4364]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          CUTS TO RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT AND STEM EDUCATION

  (Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute.)
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor 
today to talk about a crisis that our country is facing. We all know 
that our Nation's future strength is directly dependent upon our 
commitment to a robust science agenda. The cuts to our Nation's science 
programs in the CR threaten to set our Nation back even as we continue 
to look forward to our future.
  An investment in science is about ensuring our Nation's memories are 
honored, by investing in dreams that are yet even brighter. As an 
author of the first bipartisan America COMPETES Act, we responded to 
many top academic, corporate and business leaders who knew that 
investments in STEM education is what will ensure that our Nation's 
future science and engineering leaders will never need to leave our 
shores in order to obtain a world-class education.
  December 2010 was one of our finest hours when, as a Congress, we 
returned to our triumphant moment of passing the comprehensive, 
bipartisan America COMPETES Reauthorization Act, to provide our Nation 
with a roadmap for investing in our global economic competitiveness and 
our future growth.
  Mr. Speaker, our country cannot afford to go backwards by giving up 
on science and innovation.
  An investment in science is about ensuring America's memories are 
honored by investing in dreams that are even brighter.
  We all have a responsibility to preserve this vision in order to help 
rebuild our economy.

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